Ford Motor Co. said will reduce summer shutdown this year by idling select plants for only one week during what has been the traditional two-week summer shutdown.
The company intends to add an additional 200,000 units of annual straight-time capacity this year. It will produce an extra 40,000 units by idling select plants for only one week.
“To meet surging customer demand for our top-selling cars, utilities and trucks, we are continuing to run our North American facilities at full manned capacity, and we will add 200,000 units of annual straight-time capacity this year,” Jim Tetreault, vice president of North America Manufacturing, said in a statement.
Tetreault added: “Approximately 75 percent of our plants are running at a three-crew, three-shift or four-crew pattern in order to ensure we’re getting more of our products into dealerships.”
The 200,000 annual straight-time capacity additions this year will come from Chicago Assembly Plant, Flat Rock Assembly Plant and Kansas City Assembly Plant, including increased production of some of Ford’s best-selling vehicles including Ford Explorer, Ford Fusion and Ford F-Series.
The increased production at Kansas City Assembly Plant with the addition of a third crew, which Ford announced in early May, is included in the 200,000 increase.
Additionally, 20 plants, including six assembly plants, will take a reduced summer shutdown this year. The assembly plants taking one week of shutdown are Chicago Assembly, Cuautitlán Assembly, Hermosillo Stamping and Assembly, Kentucky Truck, Michigan Assembly and Oakville Assembly.
Other plants taking a reduced summer shutdown in 2013 include: Buffalo Stamping Plant; Chicago Stamping Plant; Chihuahua Engine; Dearborn Engine; Dearborn Tool & Die; Lima Engine Plant; Van Dyke Transmission Plant; and Woodhaven Forging.
Ford said it will perform routine maintenance and model-year changeover work at the following assembly facilities: Dearborn Truck Plant, Flat Rock Assembly Plant, Kansas City Assembly Plant, Louisville Assembly Plant and Ohio Assembly Plant.
To meet demand for Ford vehicles, the company said it will add nearly 3,500 hourly jobs in 2013. With its latest announcement of more than 2,000 new jobs at Kansas City Assembly Plant, as well as more than 1,400 new jobs at Flat Rock Assembly Plant, Ford is three-quarters of the way to its plan to create 12,000 hourly jobs in the United States by 2015.
The company hired more than 8,000 salaried and hourly employees in the U.S. last year.
In addition, Ford said it will announce its third quarter North American production guidance on June 3 during the May U.S. sales call. The production guidance will include the effect of the additional 200,000 units of annual straight-time capacity and the shortened summer plant shutdown schedule.
The increased production already has been assumed in the financial guidance the company reconfirmed during its first quarter earnings report on April 24, the company said.
